Strengthened Through Suffering

Continuing our verse-by-verse studies through 1 Peter, we come to 1 Peter 4:17-18 and once again learn something helpful about Christian persecution: God strengthens believers as they suffer for their faith.

While these two verses may not at first appear to show how God strengthens Christians in suffering, a closer examination of the text suggests otherwise:

For the time has come for judgment to begin at the house of God; and if it begins with us first, what will be the end of those who do not obey the gospel of God? (1 Peter 4:17)

Peter says God’s judgment begins “at the house of God.” That is, judgment begins with God’s people; with Christians. 

But what exactly is this judgment? 

Peter certainly cannot mean the “final judgment” or “judgment about whether our sins are forgiven.” Peter mentioned in the opening of his letter that the Christian has been saved “according to God’s abundant mercy” and that Christians are “kept by the power of God through faith for salvation,” a salvation ultimately “revealed in the last time (1 Peter 1:3-5).”

Peter doesn’t mean, then, the final judgment because our salvation is secure in the God who keeps us saved according to His abundant mercy.

Rather, Peter seems to have in view the periodic judgment of God with respect to our sanctification; our growth in Christ.

While God disciplines His children in the same way a loving father disciplines his own (Hebrews 12:7), Peter’s thinking here seems more along the lines of God’s purifying His children through periods of suffering.

That is, the judgment Peter describes here is not so much punitive as it is restorative. It is a purifying process Christians undergo which strengthens their faith and deepens their resolve.

We’ve seen this teaching before in the opening chapter:

In this (salvation) you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while, if need be, you have been grieved by various trials, that the genuineness of your faith, being more precious than gold that perishes, though it is tested by fire, may be found to praise, honor, and glory at the revelation of Jesus Christ.

1 Peter 1:6-7

Like a skilled craftsman strengthening and purifying precious metals in a refining fire, God often allows fires of suffering and persecution in order to purify and refine our faith. We are strengthened through the process and emboldened in our witness.

In fact, when Peter refers to Christians as the “house of God,” he may well have in mind Old Testament images of the temple and God’s purifying and cleansing of His people as in Malachi 3:1-3.

Because God’s motives for our purification are good and right, we can endure Christian persecution knowing the Lord is cleansing us and strengthening us in the process.

We may even welcome periods of suffering as the antidote to our spiritual indolence or indifference. This desire seems to be at the heart of a prayer request of Robert Murray McCheyne:

“If nothing else will do to sever me from my sins, Lord, send me such sore and trying calamities as shall awake me from earthly slumbers. It must always be best to be alive to Thee, whatever be the quickening instrument.”

The Biography of Robert Murray M’Cheyne

That’s a bold prayer, isn’t it? 

In essence, McCheyne is saying, “I recognize my tendency to be lulled away by worldly interests. So do whatever it takes to draw me back to You.”

And that’s precisely what God does through His periodic judgment of Christians.  Again, His judgment is not punitive, but restorative. It is God’s way of strengthening us, purifying us, and deepening our faith–even as we undergo persecution and suffering.

Now if God’s children need continual purifying, what will be the end of those who have never experienced any cleansing, at all?

That’s the question Peter asks in the following verse, a quote from Proverbs 11:31:

“Now ‘If the righteous one is scarcely saved, where will the ungodly and the sinner appear?’” (1 Peter 4:18)

Put another way:

“If God’s children–those declared eternally righteous by their faith in Christ–if these Christians still need ongoing, regular purifying in this world, what then will be the end of those who have never experienced any cleansing, at all?  What will be the end of non-Christians?”

Peter’s question is rhetorical, of course. He knows full well what will happen to those who do not obey the gospel of God. He’s trying to encourage the Christians by reminding them that their suffering is normal.

It’s like he’s saying, “Thank God you’re not still lost! Your suffering may seem rough, at times, but it is nothing compared to the eternal suffering of the unbeliever.”

God’s periodic judgment upon the Christian is purifying, but His judgment to come upon the unbeliever will be punitive. 

God will judge all who “do not obey the gospel of God.”

There’s a similar teaching in Paul’s second letter to the Thessalonians where he describes what Christ will do when He returns:

“in flaming fire taking vengeance on those who do not know God, and on those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. These shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of His power.”

2 Thessalonians 1:8-9

Here is the ultimate end of all who refuse to follow Jesus Christ: “everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of His power.”

The righteous one, however, is “scarcely saved,” a phrase meaning “saved with great difficulty.” It has to do with the fact that being a Christian is not easy; suffering is involved. There is frequent pain God allows to strengthen believers.

But in the end we are stronger, purer, and more faithful…

…therefore, we can welcome times of suffering!